Gripping the hard wooden paddle, the young Jesuit student pulls hard in unison with the other 7 members of the boat. Sitting at the front of the boat, the coxswain counts the beat, letting each one of the members know when to row. The boat slowly lurches forward before quickly propelling with each strong pull on the paddle. Each student pulls as hard as he can, sending their boats shooting in the water at lightening speed.
The Jesuit Crew team kicked off their season with a very strong performance in the Oklahoma City regatta on Oct. 3 and 4. Jesuit Crew was able to place multiple top finishes. On the first day of the competition, the Jesuit Dallas’ varsity 8+ raced to a 14:14.74, second-place finish. Their very impressive finish was followed quickly by the Rangers’ second boat in the 2.5-mile race which finished sixth in the competition. Jesuit crew continued on their strong first day by adding a third place finish in the lightweight 8+ 500-meter grand final, with a time of 1:27.56. Henry Droese ’17 commented on the first night of the race, saying, “The day went quite well, we managed to obtain valuable results that give us a great baseline for the year.”
On the second day of the race, the men’s youth 4+ boat consisting of Joseph Merkel ‘16, Jay Hofmeister ‘16, Campbell Lang ’16, Evan Doran’17 and coxswain James French ’18 picked up the program’s first win of the season, crossing the finish line in 15:25.83 beating the second place OKC Riversport by a huge 25 seconds. Right on their tail, the Rangers’ “B” and “C” boats also finished with great times placing fifth and sixth, respectively. Colby Eads ’17 told the Roundup, “The second day went great, we really performed to our potential and gave it our all.”
The team’s enthusiasm over the weekend was echoed by Head Coach John Fife who said, “This was a good barometer for where the team’s overall fitness is at this early part of the season. We had a mixed bag of results. There’s a lot we can work on to get faster but I am really pleased with how well the younger guys on the team have been coming along. Pocock is a very good team from Seattle, and having only lost to them by one second over a 15-minute race will motivate us as we train for the Head of the Charles.”
Make sure to congratulate the members of the Crew team on their awesome finish at this past regatta!
